


Fluffy Temptation

by flippac



Category: Azumanga Daioh
Genre: Age Difference, Asexuality Spectrum, Cuddling & Snuggling, During Canon, F/F, First Love, Sakaki Never Wanted To Be Noticed By Senpai Anyway, Sexual Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 21:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8593831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippac/pseuds/flippac
Summary: Chiyo's not quite who everyone thinks she is, just like anybody else. And she's starting to wonder just what she feels.





	

It was dark, and Chiyo didn't really feel like reading tonight anyway, so it was time to lie down and think the thoughts and be the person nobody at school knew. Sometimes she wondered if being put so far ahead wasn't a way to make sure she felt like a child, like she couldn't be as smart as she was, understand as much as she might. If you can't be laughed at in middle school, we'll just move you to high school instead - and don't forget to be _kawaii_ or nobody'll like you. Not that you're allowed to slip below high school standards. Being held back is always humiliating, however obviously the odds were rigged. Almost an adult on demand, just a kid when they don't.

Not that they were really that bad in class. They weren't trying to pick on her usually. Tomo never really _tried_ to pick on anybody anyway - that would involve thinking. And everybody else seemed to care some. But normally they'd never have known each other, and they didn't know whether to be amazed or patronise the cuteness. Except Sakaki. They didn't understand Sakaki either, and that made sense.

  


The other girls in class didn't exactly idolise Sakaki, there was no point. The boys were mostly too scared to say anything, which was probably a good thing. Everybody thought she was cool, probably wanted to be a bit more like they thought she was. Which was nothing like the person she knew.

The thing they didn't know was simple: Sakaki wasn't cool at all, she was almost desperately cute underneath her shyness.  
She wished that cat would stop biting her.  
But when she and Sakaki played together, it wasn't like her other classmates. Somehow they were actually equals, somehow calling it "playing" didn't mean she was being condescended to. Sakaki had been so happy to meet Tadakichi-san, to walk with them as she rode a dog who'd be taller than she was if he stood up, to find an animal actually returning her feelings. Chiyo thought about what had kept her so alone - probably the way she was seen by other people, too.

She _really_ wished that cat would stop biting her.

The others only saw Sakaki free when she ran. There was something really wrong about that. Wished she could help her friend be herself more. Or that anyone else understood the Neco Coneco or saw anybody but the cool athlete.

  


She liked the thought of Sakaki actually free, the idea of letting that happen. It made her happy. No, more than that. There was an awkward, embarrassed warmth to it. What would you call it? A _Whisper of the Heart?_ But... that was weird. She'd noticed how Kaorin felt, but this was different. Maybe because she actually knew Sakaki? Did she love her?

She might be cut off, but she knew that "Girl's Love" actually meant a thing for boys. No help there. Whenever she caught people talking about women loving each other, either they were family (which they weren't) or they were talking about sex. Come to think of it, usually it was the boys talking about sex. It didn't feel like anything to do with how she felt, nothing she'd ever been told or learned about sex was like this.

What _did_ lilies have to do with anything?

But she cared about Sakaki, liked when they were together, liked when they were close. A lot. The world was okay then, they might have their little awkwardnesses but there was nothing _between_. Things were warm, happy. Somehow even the difference in their size kind of went away - at least, so long as Sakaki didn't try to ride Tadakichi-san. If they were sitting down, their hair might brush together or Sakaki's might gently part to let one of Chiyo's pigtails through, ending wrapped around it.

No kawaii, no... performance for everybody else. Just the two of them together, and as she curled up the thought was so soft and happy and loving. She still didn't understand one or two of the other feelings, but she'd get to sleep just fine. _Heaven, I'm coming back to you..._

  


* * *

  


The two of them walked through the park after school again. The cherry blossom was falling, another awkward reminder of the nature of time. But it didn't ruin Chiyo's cheer - it took a lot to ruin things when she and Sakaki were alone, and even the quiet contained a togetherness they both clearly cherished. Eventually they sat down for a while under a tree. Not moving through space any more, now they had some of their own just for the two of them. They sat, talked, moved gently around each other - adjusting the angles they saw each other at, held their bodies at in relation to each other, the space between them. Sometimes one leaned against or into the other, the sight of each others' faces less important than other senses. And slowly, gently talking about things they wouldn't say to anyone else in their lives. Chiyo could feel there must be some "more" to want, but she didn't know what it was, so why worry?

  


Sakaki wandered through the park with Chiyo, gently chatting as usual. The latest version of the same old sticking plaster had been noticed. "Yeah, he bit me. I'm starting to think it's just his way of saying hello." The noise Chiyo made wasn't exactly a laugh, it wasn't quite that funny and it wasn't supposed to be, but there was certainly humour in it. Maybe she was being humoured too, but that was okay. At least she was being understood - even if it was weird that nobody her own age did. The further they got from school, the more she could relax even if there were still people she might have to interact with.

She spotted a nice tree, pointed it out to Chiyo. They went and sat under it, initially with her leaning back into it rooted safely into the ground. People were used to the idea of her in flight, running, but balance mattered. And they'd probably be left to each other here. So they sat close and they talked and in their own little way they were... intimate, in ways that let her mind not so much drift as go quietly flying away with Chiyo.

Off they went.

  


A while later...  
Well, if what she'd overheard was true then today's underwear would sell second-hand. She let the thought flow past, trying to acknowledge it and move on, then winced for a moment. All those _hentai_ out there were why she even had to worry about this in the first place, the way they would collectively insert their "tastes" into other people's lives. She didn't want Chiyo to have to deal with all of that, not now. At least she trusted herself. She remembered what the boys were like when she was Chiyo's age.

She held Chiyo gently for a moment and smiled. No crashing down to earth today, then. They were still safe together, they could be themselves as they were. And Chiyo could go on to be herself as she'll be without being shaped by what others wanted.

They flew on gently together.

  


Chiyo had found herself idly lying gently back across Sakaki's legs. They both knew on some level it must emphasise the size difference to others, but it wasn't like that for them - it just left them closer. She looked up and caught a look passing over Sakaki's face.  
"You okay?"  
"I... yes, I am. Just so long as you are."  
They smiled at each other and paused, breathing the moment in and out. Maybe there was something they could do with it, maybe it was even something right if they could figure it out, but that didn't make this wrong in the slightest. Maybe neither knew what it meant, but somehow Chiyo knew they loved each other - and that here and now, everything was just fine the way it was.


End file.
